Report Card: USA 107, Spain 100

USA

107

Final

100

Spain

STARTERS

	Chris Paul, G 4-9 FG | 2-4 3PT | 1-2 FT | 0 REB | 2 AST | 11 PTS It may not show up in his stat line, but Paul is the primary reason Team USA have gold medals around their necks right now. He took over the game in the fourth quarter, completely controlling the pace with his aggressiveness on both ends. Vintage CP3.
	Kobe Bryant, G 5-10 FG | 3-7 3PT | 4-5 FT | 2 REB | 2 AST | 17 PTS Kobe paced Team USA early, matching J.C. Navarro shot-for-shot in the first. Though he wasn't as much of a factor down the stretch, he took it upon himself to guard Spain's hottest player and did a great job limiting his looks. This was a good way to go out.
	Kevin Durant, F 8-18 FG | 5-13 3PT | 9-10 FT | 9 REB | 1 AST | 30 PTS With LeBron on the bench with four fouls, Durant did what he's done so many times for OKC — take over in crunch time. This may not have been his most efficient performance, but he hit so many huge shots that it didn't matter. And he's only 23...
	LeBron James, F 8-13 FG | 1-3 3PT | 2-2 FT | 7 REB | 4 AST | 19 PTS Dagger. That's all you really have to say about LeBron in this one. He was his usual excellent self and all that, but he also got the signature moment — a tough three with Marc Gasol right in his face to essentially seal the deal for the Americans. Legendary.
	Tyson Chandler, C 1-2 FG | 0-0 3PT | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 0 AST | 2 PTS This wasn't Chandler's tournament. Coach K decided he liked playing small, and Tyson simply didn't give him enough versatility to pull major minutes. He was able to hold his own when he got a chance, but the new era of international basketball doesn't suit him.

Still Golden

Four years after their redeeming performance in Beijing, Team USA proved once again in London that they remain the world's preeminent basketball power — and they made it look like tons of fun in the process.

Pre-Game Primer: USA vs. Spain

North Greenwich Arena
London, England

Time: Sunday, 10:00 a.m. EDT

TV: NBC

This is the big one. This is for a gold medal. Anything less will be considered an unmitigated failure. Are those expectations reasonable? Irrelevant. This is what we expect. This is why we came here. We invented this game — dominating the world is our birthright. And now Team USA only has one hurdle left in its way. Granted, that step is a pretty sizable one — the size of two 7-foot Gasol brothers, to be exact. Could the Americans find a way to lose to this Spanish team? Absolutely. Anything can happen on any given day when two exceptional basketball teams lace up their sneakers with the whole world watching. But will they? With LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, Chris Paul and all their cohorts chasing history and craving the legendary status that comes with winning gold? I wouldn't bet on it. But just in case, cross your fingers anyway.

Report Card: USA 109, Argentina 83

USA

109

Final

83

Argentina

STARTERS

	Chris Paul, G 3-4 FG | 2-3 3PT | 2-2 FT | 2 REB | 7 AST | 10 PTS After a slow start to the summer, Paul has really come on strong in the last four games. He was a wizard yet again in this one, controlling the offense and making reads I didn't even know were possible. He also did a nice job of hassling Pablo Prigioni all game.
	Kobe Bryant, G 5-10 FG | 3-6 3PT | 0-0 FT | 4 REB | 1 AST | 13 PTS Kobe's hot streak from the fourth quarter of the Australia game carried over into the first quarter against Argentina. He took smart shots and played well within the offensive structure. He cooled off after that initial burst, but also got quite a bit of rest time.
	Kevin Durant, F 7-14 FG | 5-10 3PT | 0-0 FT | 4 REB | 0 AST | 19 PTS He didn't shoot his usual 60 percent from deep, but KD did go absolutely nuts in the third quarter again, which was fun. He didn't look to go to the basket much and didn't hit the boards, but those criticisms are small potatoes when he's playing like this.
	LeBron James, F 8-12 FG | 0-2 3PT | 2-2 FT | 7 REB | 7 AST | 18 PTS This exercise of grading LeBron every game is really getting silly. It's almost useless. The guy has brought it every single night, and when the best player in the world is fully locked in, the results are predictably awesome. (P.S. He was great in this one, too.)
	Tyson Chandler, C 2-2 FG | 0-0 3PT | 0-1 FT | 3 REB | 0 AST | 4 PTS Tyson got more minutes, but didn't make much out of them. I feel like he should be owning the glass more than he is — next to Love, his rebounding numbers are pretty pedestrian. He also got called for three seconds in the key twice, which baffled me.

Pre-Game Primer: USA vs. Argentina

North Greenwich Arena
London, England

Time: Friday, 4:00 p.m. EDT

TV: NBC Sports Network

And here we are again. If it feels like it was just a few days ago that were preparing for a slugfest with Argentina, that's because it was. In fact, today's game will mark the third time these two teams have faced each other in as many weeks. Team USA won the first two meetings — the first in a close one, the second in a blowout — and remain substantial favorites to do so again here. However, if I were a betting man, my money would be on tonight's final score being much closer than Monday's game would indicate. This is Argentina's last hurrah with its celebrated core group of Manu Ginobili, Luis Scola, Carlos Del Fino, and Andres Nocioni, and those guys are going to give the United States everything they've got left. They're not afraid of the Americans — they've beat them before, on their way to a gold medal in 2004 — and they're going to go down swinging. (Perhaps literally in Scola's case.) While the odds still favor a U.S. victory, it certainly won't be easy. We should all be a little uneasy about this one.